Book Review: 'The End of Back Pain' by Patrick A. Roth, M.D.

Published 10:00 pm, Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Oh my aching back! How many people do you know who have uttered or screamed those words? Who among us hasn't suffered with back pain at some time in our lives? Not many, would be my non-expert guess.

Those who have suffered even a day or two with a pain in the back know how difficult it is to get around or even get up out of bed. A new book, The End of Back Pain Access Your Hidden Core to Heal Your Body by Patrick A. Roth, M.D., offers explanations of the different kinds of back pains and a 'stackable' exercise program to help relieve the pain.

Dealing with Back Pain

Dealing with any kind of pain can be a haunting experience. Dealing with back pain is especially challenging because troubles with your back can limit just about any kind of movement from standing to walking to sitting to bending to living a normal active lifestyle.

Dr. Roth's new book offers "plenty of rational information about pain, your reaction to it, your perception of it, and you innate ability to be a person of action, especially when in pain."

He writes, "Back pain is not the problem. How we deal with back pain is. While a sobering 80 percent of us will suffer from back pain at some point-and nearly 50 percent of us have experienced back pain in the past year-treatment for back pain has been found largely ineffective when scrutinized by modern, evidence-based medicine."

Hidden Core for Back Pain

Roth introduces readers to the 'hidden core' or the muscles of the back. His research shows that the back muscles have "too often been overlooked." His Hidden Core Workout is meant to strengthen the core to end back pain.

Roth writes that his book is about learning not to be preoccupied or overwhelmed by the pain but instead to exercise the core. He approaches back pain by addressing readers' bodies and minds.

The Hidden Core Workout is a stackable program where you add exercises to a workout each week. It is designed to "build strength, working your back muscles first, to catch up to your more developed abdomen."

Roth provides 13 exercises that are illustrated in the book. He also provides additional, more advanced illustrated exercises along with a recommended schedule for doing them.

Noteworthy Features

In addition to the Hidden Core Workout plan, Roth includes sections called 'Hidden Truths' and 'The Gist' that act as chapter summaries. He also provides a lot of medical information in chapters such as 'The Anomaly and Anatomy of the Back', 'Diagnosis: A DIY Guide', 'The Nonsurgical Treatment of Back Pain', 'Surgery' and 'The Back Genome'.

The back pain sufferers I know are desperate for relief and scared of undergoing back surgery. This book could provide a lifeline for those ready to give up.